7/26/1918 - Odds finally catching up to him, Major Edward Corringham "Mick" Mannock, the leading British ace of WWI with 61 credited aerial victories (or 73 depending on which historian is doing the counting, the fifth best total of the war behind German ace Manfred von Richthofen's 80, Frenchman Rene Fonck's 75, Canadian Billy Bishop's 72, and German flier Ernst Udet's 62) is shot down and killed by German groundfire near Calonne-sur-la-Lys, France while flying too low verifying the first victory of rookie pilot Lt. Donald C. Inglis of New Zealand. Posthumously awarded the Victoria's Cross for bravery, the commanding officer of the RAF's No. 85 Squadron is only 31-years-of-age at the time of his demise.
Mannock
Of English, Irish, and Scottish descent, Mannock is born on May 24, 1887 (take your pick as to where, Cork, Ireland, Ballincollig, Ireland, or Brighton, England), into the family of British Army career soldier Edward Corringhame Mannock Senior (Mick's grandfather is the editor of a Fleet Street newspaper and according to family legend, Mick's Uncle George is a friend of the Royal Family and the man that teaches the Prince of Wales how to play billiards) and his wife, the Irish lass, Julia O'Sullivan (the youngest member of the family for awhile, Mannock will have two older siblings, Jessie, born in 1882 and Patrick, born in 1886, and a younger sister, Ann, born in 1891). A corporal in 1882, Mannock Senior will distinguish himself in Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley's Anglo-Egyptian War victory at the Battle of Tel El Kebir (in Egypt, about 68 miles to the north northeast of Cairo). Retired from the army, the Mannock family makes Cork, Ireland it's new home in 1887, but disgruntled by life among "civilians" and deeply in debt (the head of the family has a major drinking problem), Mannock Senior will reenlist and by 1893, he and his family are living in Meerut, India. It is in Meerut where Mick catches malaria and almost dies, and it is in the same locale that the youngster gets an eye infection that costs him most of the sight in his left eye (he will later pass his eye test to fly by memorizing the chart with his good peeper). When the Boer War begins in South Africa in October of 1899, Senior is sent there with the 5th Dragoon Guards while the rest of the family remains in India. After the war and another retirement, Senior will plant his family in Canterbury, England, but showing the blackness in his personality (his family is terrified of the man when he has been drinking ... and he pretty much drinks all the time), two months later will take the family's paltry savings and abandon his wife and children.
The Mannocks Sans Senior
The Battle Of Tel El Kebir
A somewhat sickly youth, when not being pummeled as a punching bag by his father, Mick becomes a huge sports fan and immensely enjoys cricket and soccer. Unlike many of his flying contemporaries, although he is fond of target shooting with an air pistole, he finds no delight in game hunting and instead will keep birds, rabbits, and dogs as pets (fish however are not on the level of those animals though and Mick will eventually become an avid angler). A music lover, Mannock loves playing the violin and other instruments, and is talently enough that he becomes for awhile, the pupil of Welsh singer, conductor, and teacher, Clara Novello Davies (the mother of British entertainer Ivor Novello, the composer of the 1914 hit, "Keep the Home Fires Burning") and will later entertain his squadron mates with his violin noodlings. Educated at Canterbury's St. Thomas school, though curious and intelligent, with his father's absence, Mick's early studies come to an end as he spends the majority of his time seeking out menial jobs that will help his family survive. Among his jobs are being a barber's assistant and a grocery delivery boy. Eventually, egged on by his mother, Mick takes a full time job with the company that his brother also works for, the National Telephone Company. For three years, as his health declines, Mannock will shuffle papers in a dank, dark, drafty office. In 1911, Mannock is granted a transfer to the company's engineering department and moves to Wellingborough, Northamptonshire to begin his training, During this period of time, Mick joins the Territorial Army (the active-duty volunteer reserve force for the British Army) and serves in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). Despite being promoted to sergeant in 1913, he also becomes politically active, espousing deep seeded socialist views, admires the trade unionist views of Scottish politician James Kier Hardie, sympathizes with the proponents of Irish Home Rule, and becomes the Secretary of the Wellingborough Independent Labour Party in 1912. Applying for a passport during the holiday season of 1913, Mannock receives the document that lists him as telegraph and telephone mechanic, and uses it to leave England at the age of twenty.
Mannock
In February of 1914, Mannock makes the long water journey from the English port town of Tilbury, aboard a tramp steamer, to the ancient Turkish port of Constantinople (now Istanbul as of 1930). Treated kindly at first working for the Societe Ottomane des Telephones (the Ottoman Telephone Exchange), when war comes to Europe in August of 1914 after Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the heir to the Austria-Hungary Empire) and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg are assassinated in the city of Sarajevo and Turkey becomes part of the Central Powers, allied with the German and the Austria-Hungary Empires, the attitude of the citizenry becomes anti-British and openly hostile. Attempting to head back home as soon as possible, Mick is instead identified as an enemy subject, arrested, and interned in a concentration camp. Poorly fed and cared for by his Turkish hosts, confined to a small cell, Mannock soon contracts dysentery (a type of brutal gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea that kills more than 55,000 people a year). Rail thin with his illness, Mannock manages to squeeze through a small window in his cell and begins raiding the food supplies of the Turkish Army that are kept in a building next to the camp. Eventually caught, Mannock is locked up in a concrete box for the next two weeks. Approaching becoming a living skeleton as he approaches death, he is repatriated back to Great Britain and heads for home on April 1, 1915. It will take Mick two months to get back to England via a route that goes through Bulgaria and Greece, a journey that almost kills the frail youth when he once more contracts malaria.
Assassination
Back in England by May, Mannock and is sufficiently recovered enough by July to report to the Royal Army Medical Corps at his pre-war rank of sergeant. He is soon promoted to sergeant-major, but he is very unhappy with his work in the Home Countries Field Ambulance Service, upset that the soldiers he is dealing with seem to have no enthusiasm for the war, practice drills are run half-heartedly, some officers seem more concerned about the cut of their uniforms and not their men and along with British and French wounded, he will be expected to also tend to injured Germans. Too much, especially with his deep hatred for Germany (a reflection of his hate for the ally of Germany, Turkey, the country whose abuse he has just escaped), Mannock refuses to drive an ambulance anymore and requests a transfer to the Royal Engineers. The transfer is finally granted in March of 1916, but again Mannock butts heads with his superiors who have a way of reminding the youth that they are of a higher class. and so it is that Mannock discovers his calling when a friend suggests he join the Royal Flying Corps (a new military service for the British, what will become the RAF, it starts the war with 12 manned balloons, 36 planes, and 133 officers). Eye chart cheated and everything he can get his hands on about British ace Albert Ball read (a winner of the Victoria Cross, he is the leading English ace with 44 aerial victories when he crashes after the engine of his fighter fails while he is chasing after the brother of the Red Baron, Lothar von Richtofen ... promoted to captain, Ball is only three months past his 20th birthday), on August 14, 1916, the newly promoted second lieutenant arrives in the Berkshire, England town of Reading to begin flight training at the No. 1 School of Military Aeronautics.
Ball And Victory Trophies
Last Dogfight Of Albert Ball
Throwing himself into his training, Mannock becomes adroit at aerial gunnery, aircraft rigging, map reading and flight theory. Passing his classes with honors, he receives flight certificate #3895 in November of 1916 and is then sent on to the Hendon Aerodrome in London for actual flight training in a Farman Aircraft Company biplane. Passing that training course, Mick is next off for two weeks of gunnery school in February of 1917. When he is done with his gunnery classes, the rookie flier is then assigned to the flying school at Joyce Green for advanced schooling, where he comes under the tutelage of British Captain Charles Meredith Bouverie Chapman (dead at only 25-years of age on October 1, 1917, he will say of Mannock that the pilot is a natural and seemed to "... master the rudiments of flight with his first hour in the air, and from then on threw his machine about as he pleased.") and former mechanic turned fighter ace, Captain James Thomas Byford McCudden (he will be the #1 British ace with 57 aerial victories when he dies in July of 1918 at the age of just 23). Discovering he is a natural flier, Mannock also becomes aware from conversations he has with Chapman and McCudden, that experience and adherence to a handful of aerial fighting rules can be the difference between life and death. Told not to turn his Airco DH.2 biplane trainer below a 1,000 feet, Mannock deliberately puts himself into a spin below the prescribed elevation, then follows the directions he received from McCudden (recognizing they have many traits alike, including their working-class backgrounds, the two men will become good friends), stabilizes his aircraft and survives the experiment, though it does draw a major ass chewing from his commanding officer, New Zealand Captain Keith Logan Caldwell. Throwing himself into his studies and training, in early 1917 the rookie is deemed ready to fly combat missions against the Germans in a Nieuport 17 French fighter plane and is assigned to C Flight of the 40 Squadron based near Lens, France. At first, it does not go well for the young pilot.
McCudden And Friend
Airco DH.2
Nieuport 17
Rubbing wrong just about everyone in the squadron, coming across as extremely "cocky," the "new" guy has an opinion on almost any topic that comes up and is more than happy to share them all with anyone within earshot of his voice, breaks "unwritten" rules by asking various pilots how many "Huns" they have sent to Purgatory, and upsets everyone on his first evening with the squadron by committing the huge faux pas of sitting in the chair of a veteran pilot killed earlier in the day. Additionally, when Mannock, by now an expert flier and gunner, backs off attacking on early patrols, he is quietly deemed a showboating coward that is shunned by many members of his mess as the squadron devolves into detractors and supporters of the pilot (and to some degree they are correct as he tells his diary of his fears about combat ... not surprisingly when in April of 1917, the life expectancy of the average British fighter pilot is only 11 days!). Only deeds in the air change the opinions of Squadron 40, and they begin on April 19, 1917, when practicing on diving on ground targets from 2,000 feet, the lower right wing of his Nieuport snaps off while Mick is diving on a target, but instead of crashing, he is able to gain control of his crippled plane and land safely. Furthering the process of acceptance, flying his Nieuport (now with a yellow spinner on the plane's front propeller to establish the disdain Mannock holds for those that think him a coward) in a five-man patrol, he shoots down an observation balloon over the town of Quiery-la-Motte (on the same day as his hero, Albert Ball, dies and 19-year-old captain William Eric Nixon is killed going after the same balloon that Mannock gets, in his diary he will note, "My fuselage had bullet holes in it, one near my head, and the wings were more or less riddled. I don't want to go through such an experience again."). He scores even more points with the squadron when he doesn't bother to claim two victories over German pilots because there were no witnesses around to see the twin triumphs (with uncredited victories, Mannock's tally of dogfight wins will total 73 by the conclusion of the war). Conquering his fears, on June 6, 1917, flying escort for a squadron of British bombers at 13,000 feet, Mannock shoots down an Albatros D.III fighter north of the town of Lille, pumping 60 rounds into the rear of the German fighter from only ten yards away. Just getting started however, he is sent home on two-weeks leave when he suffers an eye injury during a dogfight with two German fighters. He is not home for long.
Mannock In His Yellow Spinner Nieuport
Nixon
Returning to England, Mannock is horrified to discover that just like his father, his mother has now developed into an alcoholic, and as bad or worse, his sister Jessie has become a Birmingham prostitute. Pilots always short on the Western Front, so he asks to go back to his squadron early and his request is quickly granted Back with Squadron 40 by July of 1917, Mannock will begin putting together a combat record that will see him win a Military Cross, a Distinguished Service Order three times, and Great Britain's highest award for valor, the Victorian Cross. The first victim to fall to Mannock's guns on his return to the front is a two-man Aviatik DFW C.V German reconnaissance plane (visiting the behind British lines wreckage the next day to access his marksmanship, Mannock will confide to his diary that he was sickened by the sight, and felt like "a murderer" when he discovers he has also killed a small black-and-tan terrier that was flying with the observer in the plane's back seat). Despite his disgust with himself, he will shoot down another DFW C.V on the following day. In July, he also develops the fatalistic obsession that he will go down in flames someday after witnessing 23-year-old 2nd Lt. Frederick William Rook perish that way under the guns of German 1st Lt. Adolf Ritter von Tutschek of Jasta 12. From then until his death, Mannock will talk over and over and over again about the topic, and begins flying with a service revolver in his pocket to commit suicide with should the enemy light him up (Mannock will also become an angry voice that tries to change the British policy at the time of sending it's pilots up without parachutes under the excuse that "... the presence of such an apparatus might impair the fighting spirit of pilots and cause them to abandon machines which might otherwise be capable of returning to base for repair.").
Rook Obituary
Shortly after his return from leave, Mannock, now a "veteran" fighter pilot is made the leader of A Flight within the squadron and his aerial victory count rises dramatically as he soon has his group fighting thoughtfully instead of just tearing into whatever they encounter on patrol. Taking the responsibility of his role seriously (he does show he hasn't lost his sense of humor by pulling crazy pranks, like attaching a pair of women's silk stockings for lead plane streamers on the struts of his Nieuport), although only slightly older than the men he is flying with, Mannock will become something of a father figure to the pilots he flies with, giving out advice, showing patience and compassion, setting up "easy" victories for rookie fliers, and constantly teaching. He also takes any losses to his command super seriously, often spending time in his hut sobbing and rocking back and forth in a chair, taking to heart the ancient Irish method of mourning by "keening" the day away. Practice and experience paying off, by the end of September, Mannock has fifteen credited aerial victories (and in reports, also mentions five uncredited triumphs, including one against Pour le Merite award winning German commander, Captain Adolf Ritter von Tutschek, an ace with 27 victories when he is killed near Brancourt, France on March 15, 1918 at the age of 26). In October, the squadron converts away from the French Nieuport planes they have been flying, to the British Royal Aircraft Factory's newest fighter, the S.E.5, a faster (the plane's 200 horse power Hispano-Suiza 8 engine allows the plane to fly 118 mph at 10,000 feet in height) and tougher plane than the Nieuport with increased weaponry featuring a synchronized belt fed Vickers machine gun and an adjustable over the wing drum fed Lewis machine gun (working the bugs out, the squadron will be plagued by two weeks of engine failures and jammed guns as they transition to the S.E.5).
S.E.5
von Tutschek
On the first day of 1918, killing the pilot and his back gunner, Mannock shoots down a German Hanover CL.III observation plane and bomber, his first victory in an S.E.5. Ordered back to England the next day for leave and a new assignment (driving in a car with McCudden and two other pilots to catch a boat back to Britain at the port of Boulogne, Mick is given an unofficial tribute of sorts as members of his squadron, mechanics, junior officers, and other British soldiers line the road and wave goodbye to the ace, and better still, there are kisses exchanged at a Boulogne hospital with an Irish nurse named Murphy), Mannock will be made the senior flight commander of the newly formed 74 Squadron (quite the change from how he begun with the 40th, on his leaving for a new assignment, 40 Squadron's commanding officer, Major Leonard Arthur Tilney will write in the unit's war diary, "His leadership and general ability will never be forgotten by those who had the good fortune to serve under him."). The fighter pilot immediately begins training the men using his fifteen rules of air combat (1. Pilots must hold their fire until they are within 100 yards of their target, 2. Achieve surprise by approaching from the German side of the front, the east, 3. Utilize the sun's glare and cloud cover to achieve surprise, 4. Pilots must stay physically fit and use stimulants moderately, 5. Practice your shooting as much as possible, 6. Pilots must practice spotting planes in the sky, especially from a long range, and all are to be treated as enemies until it is certain they are not foes, 7. Learn the blind spots of the enemy's planes, 8. Scouts are to be attacked from above and two-seaters from beneath their tails, 9. Pilots must practice the maneuver they will most often use in combat, the quick turn, 10. Practice judging distances in flight, 11. Beware of enemy decoys, 12. On sunny days, to prevent glint that the enemy can identify, fighters should turn with as little bank as is possible, 13. Keep turning in a dogfight, never fly in a straight line unless you are firing your guns, 14. Never dive away from an enemy, 15. Be constantly aware of the time, and the strength and direction of the wind) and the constant repetition of his mantra for victory, "Gentleman, always above; seldom on the same level; never underneath." Seemingly happy with his new assignment and it's tasks, by the end of April, Mannock is at 21 credited victories, and in May, he almost doubles that total and ends May with 41 triumphs (on a early evening patrol he shoots down three German Pfalz D.III fighters in a span of under five minutes).
Mannock
To boost his own morale and that of his men, Mannock affects a "kill every bloody Hun there is" attitude around the squadron, but privately and in his diary, the fighter ace shows a deep respect for his aerial opponents. Nonetheless, the hatred can be drawn upon as needed and Mannock will also become notorious for gunning down the crew of an already downed observation plane (commenting on the incident, Mick will growl, "The swines are better dead ... no prisoners for me!") and when news reaches the British that their foe, Baron Manfred von Richthofen has been shot down and killed in combat, he gladly tells the men of the 40th, "Good. I hope he burned the whole way down." Squadron turned around from its training days, the 74th soon is known as the "Tiger Squadron," and his men reverently begin calling their leader the "Iron Man." It is a fitting name for an aerial warrior that emphasizes gunnery over flying (he will repeatedly tell his charges, "Good flying has never killed a Hun yet, but well placed bullets have!"). Looking at the world through the piercing blue eyes of a killer, his trademark affectations on terra firma are a long-stemmed pipe he carries everywhere, walking about with a cane, and keeping the group's mascot pet dog fat with snacks. A bit of a Jekyll and Hyde type character, his personality fluctuates daily between ruthlessness, boyish pranks and playfulness (after multiple victories, upon landing, Mannock will burst into the group's mess and shout, "Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, wonk woof!"), harshness over pilot mistakes, complimentary praise for the good work of his charges, and deep depression at the loss of any of his men, while always providing relative flying advice ... and of course, away from the base there a myriad of French and British women to wine and dine. Only in private or to his diary does he let his true feelings show as he fights against depression and his constant nightmares of catching fire in a dogfight.
Mannock With Pipe, Cane, And Pooch
Pilots Of The 74th - Mannock Is The Chap Puffing On
A Pipe
The fraying of his nerves finally on display when 22-year-old squadron member (he becomes a 7-kill ace under Mannock's guidance), Lt. Henry Eric Dolan, is killed dogfighting German Lt. Raven Erik Freiherr von Barnekow of Jagdstaffel 20 on May 12, 1918, Mannock is sent back to England for leave on the 18th of June. It does not go well. Unable to spend anything but a brief, painful time with his alcoholic mother, Mannock spends most of his vacation with his friend, Jim Eyles, and breaks down, wringing his hands together to disguise that he has developed the shakes. Nearing the time to return to the Western Front, he trembles violently and uncontrollably cries. In no condition to return to his duties, he nonetheless goes back to France to assume command of 85 Squadron (known as the "Flying Foxes"), a group previously led by Canadian ace, Major William Avery "Billy" Bishop (during the war, Bishop will be credited with 72 aerial victories and will win the Victoria Cross for bravery twice ... and unlike many an ace, he survives). Mannock is 31-years-old.
Bishop
85th Squadron On The Day Mannock
Takes Over
Keeping his nerves in check in front of his new command, Mannock throws himself in training the men to fly as a team instead of as individuals. Leading by example, two days after taking command of the squadron, he shoots down two Fokker D.VII fighters (officially his 53rd and 54th victories), while infected by their new leader's enthusiasm, his charges splat three additionally German aircraft. Pleased at the direction the group is going, for a brief period of time, Mannock's nightmares go away. The nightmares and depression return however two days later, when Mannock is notified of the death of his mentor and friend, 23-year-old Major James McCudden (the leading British ace at the time with 57 confirmed victories) from a non-combat crash that fractures the pilot's skull. As he has done throughout the war, Mannock keeps his distress to himself and keeps flying (now flying in an apparent state of rage that has him breaking his own combat rules and repeatedly strafing wrecks he has already shot down), recording July victories over three more D.VII fighters, two observation planes, and a Fokker Triplane fighter, to bring his official count to a total of sixty enemy aircraft. Still haunted by what he has done and what might happen to him, as if seeing into the future, at a going away party for British ace, Captain Gwilym Hugh "Noisy" Lewis (Mannock gives the man his nickname for his "quiet" nature ... Lewis will go on to score twelve victories during WWI, becomes an RAF wing commander during WWII, and lives to the ripe old age of 99), Mannock takes the time to remind his friend, Captain George Edward Henry McElroy (an ace with over thirty aerial victories) that he shouldn't follow his victims down to verify his triumphs because it might bring the flier within range of German anti-aircraft fire (credited with 47 aerial victories during the war, the 25-year-old will ignore the advice and is shot down and killed on the last day of July).
Officers Of 85 Squadron - Mannock Is Holding His
Pipe And Cane Behind The Mascot Goat
"Noisy" Lewis & McElroy
Last Photo Of Mannock With A French Child -
Discovered In An Old Photo Album Of A French
Farmer in 2009 - Notice The Aging That Has
Taken Place
The inevitable for Mannock takes place in the early hours of Friday, July 26, 1918. Sitting in the group's mess smoking his pipe and listening to a gramophone recording of "Londonderry Air," the 85th commander is joined by the group's newest replacement pilot, a youth from New Zealand, Lt. Donald Inglis. Partnered for the morning's dawn patrol, Mannock offers to help Inglis record his first kill ... the two men will search for a German two-seater observation plane that has recently been prowling about their portion of the front, and when found, Mannock will take out the back gunner, before pulling away and letting the rookie finish off the plane without having to worry about defensive fire coming his way. Taking off from the 85th's Saint-Omer-en-Chaussee aerodrome in northern France at 5:00 in the morning, the pair find their prey (a LVG C.II reconnaissance plane) flying about 5,000 feet above the French village of Merville. As planned, at about 5:30 a.m. over Pacaut Wood, Mannock swopes down on the observation plane and kills the back gunner, Sergeant Josef Hein, then pulls away to allow Inglis to fire into the aircraft's gas tank. Bullets placed correctly, with both the pilot, Lt. Ludwig Schopf, and gunner dead, the plane circles down and crashes behind German lines as Mannock and Inglis follow it towards the ground (breaking one of Mick's unwritten rules about getting too close to the guns of German ground personnel). Watching the plane crash, at a much too low elevation the men circle (Mannock at roughly an elevation of forty feet, with Inglis above at one hundred feet in the air) the burning wreck twice before starting for home; back to base just as every rifle and machine gun on the ground opens up on the pair.
Inglis
Disaster - L To R - Mannock, Inglis, And The Germans
Just as Mannock kicks the rudder of his plane to make a turning climb, the left side of the engine of the craft is struck, spouts a small blue flame, and then catches on fire, a fire that grows larger and larger rapidly. No longer capable of turning, the nose of the wounded S.E.5 drops slightly and then the plane goes into a slow spiraling right-hand turn. Once, twice, and then the plane hits the ground and totally explodes in flame. His own plane also hit, Inglis circles the Mannock wreck from an elevation of only thirty feet or so without seeing Mick before leaving the area ... barely. Crash landing with his engine dead just beyond the British front line, the pilot will come out of his ruined pane screaming, "The bastards killed my major. They killed Mick!" Indeed, nightmares finally over for the fighter pilot, the story of Mannock doesn't quite end with his death.
Mannock
Rumored to have been found 250 yards away from the wreckage of his plane (this will of course lead to some wondering if Mannock jumps out of his falling fighter), the exact cause of his death remains unknown. Whether the ace was wounded, unconscious, or dead, by the way the plane crashes, it appears that Mannock never uses his revolver on himself, but no one will ever be able to say one way or the other as an unknown German soldier buries the flier after retrieving his personal effects (which are returned to his family after the war) ... his identification dog tags, notebook, and pistol (which shows no sign of having been in a fire). And with the body buried close to the front lines, the exact location of Mannock's grave is quickly lost as the area is pummeled by artillery from both sides (using information provided by the Germans, after the war the British will look for the pilot's body, but will be unable to find it (though some historians believe he rests as the unknown airman buried at the Laventie war cemetery in Plot III, Row F, Grave #12).
Mannock Medals
Finally awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for bravery in 1919 (after the commendation is pushed forward by his comrade and fellow squadron ace, Flight Commander James Ira Thomas "Taffy" Jones ... at the time of Mannock's death he will write in his diary, "26th July - Mick is dead. Everyone stunned. No one can believe it. I can write no more today. It is too terrible."). Though the two men haven't talked in years and Mannock leaves a will that his father is to get nothing from his estate, somehow the senior Mannock will be given his son's medal for bravery at a July ceremony that takes place at Buckingham Palace. Senior also manages to get his hands on Mick's other awards, all of which are shortly afterwards sold by daddy for the measly sum of five pounds (the medals will be recovered and come into the possession of Lord Michael Ashcroft, who loans them to the Royal Air Force Museum located in the city of Hendon, where they can still be viewed). The pilot will also be remembered on the Royal Flying Corps Memorial to the Missing located at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Arras, France, a memorial plaque honoring Mannock is placed in Canterbury Cathedral, and the town of Wellingborough honors him with his name on the town's war memorial to it's WWI fallen, names the town's Air Training Corps after the flier, puts his name on a residential street (Mannock Road), and in 1988, places a plaque on the home at 183 Mill Road where he briefly lived with the Eyles family before the war (the tribute will be unveiled by the most successful British fighter pilot of WWII with 34 credited aerial victories, Air Vice Marshal James Edgar Johnson).
Canterbury Tribute
Only 31-years-old at the time of his death, the fighter pilot, in the short period of time he is at the front and in combat, depending on who is doing the counting, is credited with between 61 and 73 aerial victories ... one of the greatest fighter pilots to ever fly. Remembered by the men of his squadron, one pilot will state that Mannock "... was idolized by all who came into intimate contact with him," with another stating he was "... a man among men," while yet another flier recalled the fighter pilot as being "... a warm, lovable individual of many moods and characteristics. I shall always salute his memory."
Rest in peace, Major!
Mannock
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